


Puppy Love

by MorganOfTheFey



Series: OTP: I Want You to Win [1]
Category: Luke Cage (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Pining, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love, childhood crush, companion one shot to Shades of Grey, inappropriate conversations for children
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 05:23:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8433436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorganOfTheFey/pseuds/MorganOfTheFey
Summary: Hernan asks "Miss Mariah" to tell him, Cornell, and Pop what happens in the Agamemnon, and she educates the boys on the original White People Nonsense. Then when Cornell and Pop try to rag on Hernan, Mariah steps in and challenges the two to step up by proving their dumbasses know anything at all about vaginas--with a medically accurate diagram that little Hernan ends up seeing too. Whoops.





	

**Author's Note:**

> OK, so Hernan's crush on Mariah is entirely one-sided, and she def never flirts back or anything, but the subject matter also gets pretty inappropriate for a little kid. just warning in case someone might be squicked by discussions of genitals around a little kid. I deliberately left Hernan's age vague in this, so you can imagine him at whatever age you feel comfortable with below teenager.

“Bro, there are some naked ass hunnies in these books! They ain’t for school at all!"

Cornell stops playing with a sigh. “It’s called anatomy, Pop."

“Well, Ana can toe me,” Pop mutters with a snicker. “An’ I know what damn anatomy books look like, with people all sliced open ’n shit. That book’s over there. This here … this raw, por-no- _graphic_ shit."

“Shouldn’t be messing with Miss Mariah’s books,” the scrawny kid sitting in the corner says.

“Hernando, shut yo damn mouth,” Pop snaps back.

The kid scowls. “It’s Hernan."

“It’s whatever I damn well say it is."

“Mariah really looking at bare ass people when she’s supposed to be studying?” Cornell asks, getting up to see for himself.

“Uh huh.” Pop shows the book to him. “Right here. Tiddies, cunt, ’n everything. She all covered in blood ’n shit too."

“Damn,” Cornell breathes. “Fuck kinda book is this?"

“It’s Greek,” Hernan says. “She told you ‘bout it yesterday, but you weren’t listening."

“Yeah, since you know shit now, what book is this?” Pop asks, holding the title out of sight.

Hernan swallows. “It’s … it’s the … Aga—Agameminim."

Cornell laughs. “Aga-em-n-ems."

Hernan flushes and clenches his jaw. But Mariah sweeps into the room before Pop can join in on the mockery.

“It’s the Agamemnon,” she says coolly. “And you better not have lost my place."

“I’m right at the part where this naked bitch is dancing around, flopping her tiddies all over the place,” Pop says.

Mariah smiles. “Well if you gain another five pounds, I’m sure you can flop your tits too, Henry."

Cornell sucks his teeth. “Aw damn, Mariah. That’s cold. Why you hafta act like that?"

“‘M just husky,” Pop mutters.

“If you’re a husky, then you’ll know how to sit.” Mariah nods at the chair pulled up against the doorway. “Go on."

Pop smacks her book down on the table, but he takes his ass over to the chair and sits down. Mariah gracefully seats herself in the chair at the head of the table like she’s taking her birthright throne. Hernan hasn’t taken his eyes off of her since she walked into the room.

“What happens?” he blurts out.

Mariah glances over at him for the first time, as if she’s surprised the toaster just spoke to her like it was a person. He swallows hard and keeps going before he loses his nerve.

“In the book?"

“Yeah,” Cornell says. “Mama’s paying so much for you to know shit. Tell us a story."

Hernan is listening. But then again, he always is if Mariah is in the room. Cornell sits in his piano chair expectantly and even Pop stops sulking long enough to look over.

Mariah sighs. “All right. So … Agamemnon is this boss, right? ‘Cept he has to rule his kingdom ‘cause someone snatched his bro’s girl, and he’s gotta help get her back. And he doesn’t leave nobody in charge while he’s gone, just his woman, so she steps up to run shit."

She pauses to make sure they’re all listening. They are.

“But this woman gotta have a man around so all the other men don’t try to buck up and make they dumbasses king,” Mariah says. “So she starts fucking with his cousin—"

“Aw man,” Cornell complains.

Pop scoffs and holds out his hand like, _there you go_. Hernan glares at them for interrupting.

“Oh shut up,” Mariah snaps. “Agamemnon was off fucking all kinds of trophy bitches, and he brought them back, into her house, telling her to make nice with them. ‘Sides, if he didn’t want his woman talking to nobody else, he shouldn’t’ve fucked off for ten years. She didn’t even know for sure if he was alive or ever coming back. Girl had to keep the kingdom running somehow."

“All right, so what happened when he comes back?” Cornell asks.

“Well first of all, he starts feeling himself and walks on this fancy red carpet, which is a major diss to the gods, so everyone know he about to get his ass whupped for that,” Mariah says. “Plus, you know what started all this shit? ‘Cause this is a Greek play, and they invented white people nonsense."

The boys looks at each other and shake their heads.

“Well,” Mariah pauses again, relishing their undivided attention. “One time, our boy Agamemnon here was drowning at sea, and he promised Artemis he’d sacrifice the first thing he saw if she helped him swim to shore. And she comes through for him, but when he crawls his sorry ass up out of the water, it’s his daughter who comes running down the beach to help him."

“Oh shit,” Pop whispers.

Mariah grins. “That’s right. And when Agamemnon wants to sail off to war, Artemis comes to collect. He either sacrifices his daughter to her or he can’t sail."

“So what’d he do?” Cornell asks.

Hernan rolls his eyes. “She already said he was gone in the war for ten years. So he must’ve done it, right?"

“Keep your eyes and mouth in check and let Mariah finish,” Cornell retorts.

“He’s right,” Mariah says, and Hernan flushes with pride this time. “Agamemnon sacrificed his own daughter. Had her strapped down to a pyre and light the whole thing up. She was all begging, daddy please, _and_ he only got her down there by telling her she was going to be married to this real hot dude Achilles, who was like the greatest fighter ever. So she showed up all dressed in white, and—“ Mariah clicks her tongue. “Sacrificed."

Pop shakes his head. “That’s fucked up."

Mariah nods. “Right. That’s why Clytemnestra—that’s her mother, the boss lady running things now—she kills Agamemnon’s no good ass soon as he gets back. Throws a net on him so he can’t run away and hacks him to pieces with an axe, then bathes in his spurting blood like rain."

Cornell makes a face and flinches back. “Fuck, Mariah. That’s just gross."

She grins again and shrugs. “What happens when men step out of place."

“Can’t just walk around, doing us like that,” Pop argues. “She shoulda … like …"

“What?” Mariah challenges. “Called the po-lice? Nah, she handled it herself, and the law was on her side too. Greeks had a blood-feud code, and she had a right to avenge her daughter. Orestes is the one who fucked up. If he’d been man enough to avenge his sister himself, she wouldn’t have had to get involved. But he only cared about avenging if it was a man who died, so he—"

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Pop says. “Or-rest-tees who?"

Cornell scoffs. “Shit’s too complicated. Sounds like that is some white people nonsense. I gotta practice anyway."

“Hey man, you ever think of writing some lines to go with all that piano shit?” Pop asks him.

Mariah grips her pencil tight and fumes at being ignored. Hernan works it through in his head. If Orestes is the brother of the chick who got sacrificed, then that makes him Clytemnestra’s son. And Agamemnon would be his father, the man who died, right?

“What’d Orestes do?” Hernan asks quietly, making sure to pronounce the name right this time.

“He killed his mother,” Mariah answers in a loud voice.

“Keep it down,” Cornell snaps. “I can’t hear the music."

Mariah ignores him and continues to explain in the same tone of voice. “Agamemnon got to kill his daughter and no one did shit. And when Clytemnestra killed him to satisfy the blood-feud, her son killed her. But he got off and didn’t need to be killed himself ‘cause the gods decided women don’t count as parents, so he technically didn’t kill part of his family."

Hernan frowns. “Why aren’t women parents? Don’t they … they uh—"

Now Pop and Cornell decide to pay attention again.

“That some of the shit you know?” Pop asks him with a grin. “You know where babies come from, boy?"

Hernan shoots him a glare. “Yeah, your mom gave me a demonstration last night."

Pop stands up. “The fuck you say about—"

“Hey.” Mariah’s sharp voice cuts through the air. “Mama said no fighting in here. You remember when you broke that nice chair she liked?"

Pop scowls at both of them. “Well tell him to watch his damn mouth."

Mariah scoffs at him. “Boy, you don’t know shit either."

“I know better than some little kid,” Pop says. “He even two digits yet?"

Mariah opens up another book before Hernan can retort back, flipping through the pages to show an anatomically correct illustration of a vagina, labels on it and everything.

“You know what this is?” Mariah asks.

“Man that don’t look right,” Cornell mutters.

Pop looks away from it too. “Why it all squiggly and shit?"

Mariah rolls her eyes. “It’s showing the inside. Now, since you a big man who knows shit, you show me where the clit is."

Cornell blinks dumbly at her. “The what?"

Pop slaps his arm. “It’s that thing they get pierced sometimes."

“Thought that was the belly button."

“Nah man, there’s like, a little nipple down there—"

“What? Women ain’t got no pussy nipples."

Hernan looks at the page while they’re arguing. He’s seen a couple women sort of naked before, but that’s just Mama Mabel’s girls. Getting dressed and undressed in the hallway, sometimes flashing a little sneak preview to the johns that he caught a glimpse of. He’s never been particularly impressed or interested. Just different flabs of fat and skin.

He looks away from the illustration and skims the text around it. There’s a box with words next to numbers. 1. Pubic mound. He looks back to the illustration and finds the number one next to the swell with the hair on it up top. Skims down the rest of the numbers in the box until he sees the word “clitoris” which sounds close enough to what Mariah says.

Hernan quietly taps the page where the number says it is. Mariah isn’t looking at him. He clears his throat and taps again. She glances over and her eyes widen.

“Well damn,” she says. “Hey Pop, your momma must’ve demonstrated him good ‘cause he’s got it."

Hernan grins so wide he thinks his face might crack. “Thank you, Miss Mariah."

“Miss Mariah,” Pop repeats with a sneer. “The fuck you calling her that for, like she some kind of fancy white lady?"

“She is a lady,” Hernan retorts. “And we gotta show respect."

Pop makes an incredulous noise. “You really gonna get in my face ‘bout showing respect right now, boy? After talking ‘bout my momma?"

Hernan lifts his chin up. “Well if I see your momma, I’ll tell her sorry."

“You ain’t gonna say sorry to me?” Pop demands.

Hernan grins, crazy and flat out inviting another beating. Doesn’t matter to him. “Nah."

Pop takes several steps forward. “I will pop your big little head off."

“Well is it big or is it little?” Hernan asks.

Mariah stands up. “Boys."

Pop points at Hernan. “Say you’re sorry, chico."

“Fuck you,” Hernan spits. "I bet your momma whupped your ass every day growing up, so I ain’t half as scared of you as her."

“That she did.” Mama Mabel walks in and pins Pop in place with a glare. “So sit your ass down ‘fore I do the same."

Pop grumbles, but he sits.

“Why the _hell_ is there some white pussy on my table?” Mama Mabel demands.

Mariah quickly shuts the book and gathers them all up. “Sorry, Mama. Pop and Cornell were acting like they know shit about women, so I told them to prove it."

“I ain’t do nothing,” Cornell protests. “I’m over here practicing."

Mama Mabel snorts. “Boys these days couldn’t find a woman’s clit if she labeled it for them."

Mariah laughs, her eyes sneaking over to find Hernan. Mama Mabel narrows her own eyes at her.

“Something funny?"

Mariah stops and straightens up. “No, ma’am. Youse right, is all."

Mama Mabel crosses her arms. “What was that?"

“Sorry, ma’am,” Mariah says, then clears her throat. “You’re right. That’s all."

“Damn straight,” Mama Mabel mutters. “I don’t pay for your schooling for you to talk like that. Now go study upstairs, we got business down here."

“Yes, ma’am."

Mariah leaves the room without looking back, but Hernan watches her the whole time until she’s out of sight. Pop does corner him alone a day later and make good on his promise, but it actually makes him sound a bit tougher to say Pop knocked him sideways once and he didn’t cry or nothing.

And it was definitely worth it to hear Mariah laugh.

**Author's Note:**

> also, if you liked this, please go read Shades of Grey too! that's the full multi-chaptered fic I'm currently updating for this pairing :)


End file.
